Xolos tie Palmeiras 0-0 in Copa Libertadores

TIJUANA  Bruno Cortez Cardoso was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and has been a goalkeeper for local club Palmeiras since he was 12, first with its youth teams, then the B team, then the senior team. Aside from a seven-month loan to Portuguesa in 2011, he has spent his entire 16-year career with a single club, loyalty personified.

Because he is Brazilian, he goes by one name: Bruno.

Here’s another single word to describe him: good.

The Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles will be seeing his flying tips and blocks and punches in their sleep, and they won’t be pleasant dreams. The 6-foot-5 Bruno made one spectacular save after another Tuesday night at only partially full Estadio Caliente to secure a 0-0 tie in a round of 16 Copa Libertadores game that was equal parts humbling and hopeful for the Xolos.

Humbling, because they had, what, six or seven clear scoring chances that were thwarted by their own glitches or by Bruno’s gloves.

Hopeful, because the Copa Libertadores uses an away-goals tiebreaking format for the two-leg series and holding the road team scoreless in the opener is often tantamount to winning.

It means: If the Xolos can pierce the net May 14 in Sao Paulo, Palmeiras – a team that prefers to put 10 men behind the ball and counterattack – must score twice to advance. A 1-1 tie in Sao Paulo is enough to put Tijuana, the lone remaining Mexican entrant, into the quarterfinals of the most prestigious club tournament in the Americas.

The scoreboard may have said otherwise, but the Xolos looked nothing like the team that has won just once in its last 12 Liga MX games and tumbled out of playoff contention five months after historically hoisting the trophy. They were rested. They were poised. They were patient. They created chances.

They just couldn’t finish them.

One, two, three, four, five, six times.

“We played a good game,” Tijuana coach Antonio Mohamed said. “We were strong physically and our team had the right state of mind. We missed some opportunities ... We played almost the entire game on their half but we couldn’t score.”

Fidel Martinez had a ball roll fortuitously to him at the top of the penalty area but sent his shot curling wide. Fernando Arce had a 20-yard free kick tipped over the crossbar by Bruno. Alfredo Moreno, playing for the first time in a month, got loose in the penalty area and somehow fired a 10-yard shot a good 15 rows into the stands. Duvier Riascos had his header tipped over the bar as well.

And that was just the first half.

Bruno made two more big-time saves in the second half, parrying a swerving, knuckling, dipping shot from substitute Richard Ruiz and tipping yet another Riascos attempt over the bar.

The Xolos play just once before the 6,000-mile trip to Sao Paulo, a Liga MX game here Friday night against Chivas that likely will be a battle of reserves.

“We hope that in the next game (against Palmeiras) the goals will open up,” Mohamed said. “I think 15 days of recovery before the second leg will help us. This team has shown on every field that it is not scared. And I have plenty of confidence in it.”